Break In
by Sea Salt Princess
Summary: Sora's always had nightmares or people breaking into his house in the middle of the night. When it actually happens, he can't believe it, especially based on the strangers actions. As the stranger -Riku- forces his way into Sora's life, they must both choose which side of the Organization they will find themselves on. Love, or Loyalty? YAOI. RikuXSora Rated T for now...
1. Chapter 1: Enter

**A/N:**** So, as I was getting dressed this morning, inspiration hit! I couldn't help but write this! But, ahem, I'm getting ahead of myself. This is a new story! ^3^**

**As I said before, inspiration hit, and since I had some time before I had to do anything today, I decided to crank this bad boy through the works. I'll be the first to admit that the characters act strange in the beginning, but it is for reasons that will be explained later. I feel like the ending of this is a little rushed, but I like it nonetheless. I think when I have some extra time, I'll go back and edit this. For now, it'll be as it is.**

**Sure, this is a little different than what I wrote before, but I hope you don't hate it too much!**

**Cookies for the reviewers! ^-^**

**Chapter 1:**** Enter**

It had been quite a long time since Sora had woken up in the middle of the night. When he was younger, he would have horrible nightmares, including someone breaking into his house in the middle of the night. After two years, Sora had broken himself of his habit, telling himself every night, "I am okay. No one will hurt me." When Sora had his nightmares, he was terrified to fall asleep, and would always go into his older brother's room for comfort. Sora tells himself every night that his home is safe and nothing will happen, but that one little doubt remains in his mind: _what if it does?_

"Night Leon!" Sora calls down to his brother, who is currently in the living room, watching the nightly news. Every night, Sora and Leon watch the Twilight Town 10pm News. Try saying that five times fast, huh?

It gave Sora a reassurance that he was safe. There was hardly any news that scared him. Only the occasional robbery had him on his guard. The robbers only hit the slums of Twilight Town though. Sora was always concerned about his cousin, Roxas, when things like that happened. Roxas and his friends Hayner, Pence, and Olette lived close to the slums, and could easily be hit in one of these robberies.

That wasn't Sora's concern tonight though. Sora's concern tonight was the mound of homework he had to do by tomorrow that just wasn't going to get done. Leon never let Sora go to bed any later than midnight, so Sora had lied to him, telling him that he was going to bed, when he was just going to do his homework under the covers of his bed. Leon never suspected anything when Sora occasionally pulled these stunts.

"Goodnight, Sora. Don't forget to lock your window." Leon's voice boomed throughout the house. Sora never forgot to lock his window, but Leon always reminded him before bed. It was one more precautionary measure to prevent Sora's dreams.

Sora rushes up the stairs, like every night, and enters his light blue room. He has a large bed, with dark blue covers, the wall to the right of Sora's bed has a large mahogany desk with a window right above it, the wall to the left of Sora's bed has a large closet to hold all of Sora's outfits (Don't judge!), and the wall that the door is on has ocean wallpaper on it. Sora drags his backpack over to his bed, and unzips it. Sora turns his lamp on next to his bed so that after he turns the main light on he can navigate back to his bed. Not that he ever does. Sora usually does a flying-leap to his bed, just in case something is under his bed.

Sora shuts off his main light, and quickly runs and jumps onto his bed. He flips his body over, after doing his usual belly-flop onto the bed, and pushes his back up against the headboard. Sora leans over and drags his backpack onto his bed. He pulls out his geometry homework first, along with his trusty mechanical pencil. His mechanical pencil had Mickey Mouse designs on it, and a Mickey Mouse eraser on top. Sora uses his binder to lean on, as he sits cross-legged on his bed.

Sora leans an elbow on his knee, and taps his pencil on his leg. Normally, he'd tap his pencil on his paper, but he didn't want Leon to hear. Sora begins to work out the first problem – solving a triangle proof. Sora had nearly gotten everything he needed when his window to his room flew open. Sora's head immediately flew to the right, frozen in fear as he watched two hands surface on his windowsill.

Sora, paralyzed by fear, dropped his pencil. As the two hands gained purchase, and began to pull up a body, Sora felt a scream building in his throat. Suddenly- an idea came to Sora. This was just a dream, so he'd calm himself down, right?

Sora pushed down his urge to scream. It's been a while since he had a nightmare, and he was prepared. _I'm fifteen. Nightmares don't scare me._ Sora tells himself. Sora tries to will away the apparition, but to no avail. A head peeks over the windowsill and looks shocked for a moment. The person's long silver hair blew in the breeze from outside.

Sora was no longer frozen by fear, but shock. This wasn't a dream. He _had_ forgotten to lock his window. This was real. Sora grasped his covers tightly, a cold sweat breaking out over his body as the mysterious person climbed into Sora's room, and onto his desk. The man- Sora decided based off of his masculine body figure, and boy would that be embarrassing if he was wrong- presses a single finger up to his lips as he climbs down off of Sora's desk.

Sora's eyes widened as the man approached him. The man pulls out a knife, and stands at the end of his bed.

"You don't have a phone on you, do you? If you do, give it up now." The man threatens, his silky, deep voice enticing Sora to do as he said. Sora pulls his phone out of his right pocket, and hands it over to the man. The man grabs the cellphone and shoves it into his own pocket. Sora feels the urge to speak, and is unable to quell it, although all that comes out is a squeak of helplessness.

"What was that?" The man asks, his teal eyes boring into Sora's.

"Wh-what are you g-going to do to m-me?" Sora stammers, squeaking quietly. He knows that his only hope is to alert Leon, who is probably asleep on the couch by now.

"Nothing really. This is just my momentary refuge." The man explains, sheathing his knife and taking a seat on Sora's bed. The man seems fairly relaxed, and he looks over to Sora's homework. "Geometry, huh? Need some help-?" The man's gaze flickers up to the top of Sora's homework sheet. "Sora?" He adds, finishing his question. Sora, afraid that he'd pull the knife out again, nods. The man turns the paper away from Sora, examining the problem on the sheet.

"Oh, this? This is easy. So, you need one more angle to have the angle-side-angle theorem, right?" The man asks, and Sora nods again. "Okay, good. So you see that the two triangles you are proving overlap here," The man points at an intersection of the two triangles. Sora nods in understanding. "Okay, the angles on both sides are called vertical angles. Vertical angles are always congruent. There's your angle." The man brushes his long bangs out of his face. "Hmm." The man starts, examining his bangs. "I could use a haircut. You have scissors in here?" His hair is so long that it reaches down to his mid back. Sora nods, and points to his drawer, where he keeps scissors, just in case. "Perfect. Hey Sora, you wouldn't mind cutting the back, would you?" Sora cringes at how the man uses his name so casually, as if they were friends. Sora gets up off of his bed, and watches the way his shadow plays across the room. He grabs the scissors, briefly considering holding the man hostage with them, until he remembered that the man probably had a larger arsenal on him.

"H-how short?" Sora asks, nervously. The man chuckles lightly. Sora is afraid that he is going to turn around and stab him, so he takes a nervous step back.

"Wow, still nervous, huh? Let me tell you something, Sora. If I wanted you dead, you would've been dead the moment I climbed in your window. Oh, and you can cut it as short as the base of my head to my shoulders." The man brushes his bangs out of his face. "Don't touch the bangs, by the way. I'll get that." He says, nearly reading Sora's thoughts.

"Okay." Sora responds, his voice wavering. If this were a nightmare, it would be his weirdest one yet. He was still expecting the man to turn around and stab him at any moment, but as a few seconds passed, he realizes that he man is just waiting for Sora to get started.

Sora takes the neon orange scissors – yes, they clash with just about everything in Sora's room – and grabbed the man's hair. It felt like silk, and Sora nearly stops everything just to feel it. Sora reluctantly begins to cut off inches upon inches of the man's hair, layering the outer layer to be slightly shorter than the inner layer.

Sora's cutting job is sloppy and choppy, due to his shaking hands. Sora's stomach is twisted in knots, and he feels as if he is going to vomit. He has one last strand to cut, and he runs his hands through the man's hair, earning a shudder from the man. Sora lines up the last piece as best as he can, and cuts it.

"I'm done." Sora says, his voice wavering once more. His knees are shaking, and the man turns around.

"Do you have a mirror?" The man asks, relatively kind for what Sora assumed was a robber. Sora runs to his closet and pulls out his hand-held mirror (His hair is messy in the morning!), handing it to the man. Sora looks down at the ground and wonders how he is going to get all of this hair hidden before Leon wakes him up the next morning – that is if there is anything left to wake up.

Sora bends down, and attempts to scoop up most of the hair. He takes two handfuls of it, and tosses it in his trash. It may not be a permanent solution, but for the moment, it works. Sora goes back over to the chair, scooping up the last few handfuls he can manage to grab.

The man, who is sitting in Sora's desk chair, watches Sora intently. He is mildly humored at how Sora shakes whenever he directly addresses him. It's slightly endearing, but he has to remind himself that he has to get moving. Breaking, entering, and robbing the Twilight Town bank was bad enough, but he couldn't drag this kid in with him. The poor kid looked like he was trying so hard to do his homework. The least he could do is help Sora out with the rest of it, before heading off to his hideout.

"Hey, So, you don't mind if I call you 'So,' right?" The man watches in amusement as Sora's knees begin to quake, and the boy's teeth chatter. It would've been hilarious any other day, but he had a large sum of money in this black trench coat, and he had to get a move on, not stay and enjoy the view. Not saying that the view was bad, I mean, c'mon doesn't everyone love a little brunet in his dinosaur boxers? Cause he sure did. "Need any more help with your homework? I'm heading out in a little bit, so since I distracted you, I might as well offer any help I can, huh?" The man brushes his newly cut bangs to the side. He then runs his fingers through his newly-cut hair.

"Uh, well, that was the last of my homework." Sora couldn't decide whether to say thank you or not. After all, this man did trespass into his house, and give Sora the scare of a lifetime. "But, if you don't uh – never mind." Sora was planning to ask the man his name, but for all he knew, this man could be a killer, and just lie to him anyway.

"What?" The man asks, curious. Sora surely didn't think he'd stab him now, did he? He never had any intentions on killing the boy, if he did, then he would've had his gun out in seconds. Ah the benefits of what can be hidden in a trench coat.

"Uh, well, don't hurt me okay?" Sora starts, his voice wavering again. Tears threaten to spill out of his eyes. The man briefly wonders why this boy is so scared, it's not like he pulled his knife out again, or anything.

"Go ahead, you can ask." The man replies, kicking his feet up onto Sora's desk and leaning back into the desk chair.

"Wh-what's your name?" Sora asks, tears leaking down his face. Sora sits down on his bed, his eyes red and puffy. The man knows that telling him his name is a horrible idea, but it's not like he'd ever see this boy again. After all, Sora lived in Twilight Town, and he himself lived in Hollow Bastion. Not that he'd ever tell the kid where he lived.

"My name is Riku." The man tells Sora. Riku's face takes on a thoughtful expression, as he considers if the boy will try and look him up. It would be better if he had more information on Sora, that way, if he ever turned against Riku, Riku could get rid of him. Riku didn't want to have to hurt Sora, it was the last thing he wanted to do, but it was still on the list of possibilities. "Hey Sora, how old are you?" Riku asks, watching Sora tense up. He seems to have some sort of inner struggle, but as fear washes over his face, he resigns himself. Sora's shoulders slump, but one of his knees continues to shake. Riku almost wishes he could go over and sit next to the boy on the bed, but he can't get close to him. That would be too dangerous; too much attention is already going to be on this boy if anyone finds out Riku was here.

"I'm fifteen." Sora whimpers, tears still falling down his face. He cringes, as if Riku were about to hurt him, but releases as Riku does nothing but sit in the chair and watch the boy. Riku watches the tears fall down Sora's face, and it takes everything in him to restrain himself from wiping those tears away; it would only scare Sora more. Riku considers what Sora told him. Riku himself is sixteen, and Sora is fifteen. Sora isn't that much younger than him, although Riku didn't expect him to be.

"You go to Twilight Town High School, right?" Riku asks, trying to be polite and gain information at the same time. Sora chokes back a sob. He thought for sure Riku was going to track him down and kill him now. He must have too much dignity to kill Sora while he was on his bed, in his room, in the middle of the night. This thought triggers something in Sora, as he looks at the clock. Leon always has an alarm on his phone for midnight, which is when he comes and checks on Sora to make sure he's not having any nightmares.

The clock reads 11:58, and Sora tenses. Leon would kill him if he found out, and he sure as hell wouldn't hesitate to kill Riku either. Sora didn't want to have to deal with that stress. Leon would never let him sleep in his room again. Sora would be put back on those drugs – the sleeping pills that are supposed to cause a dreamless sleep, but only intensified his nightmares.

"Yeah. Riku, uh, listen, you uh, have to leave." Riku tenses, as he wonders if the boy had somehow managed to call the cops. He had kept a close enough eye on the boy, but it is possible he had another phone and texted for help.

Riku stands up. "You called the police? How?" Riku inquires, his lips pursing, and his shoulders tensing.

"No Riku, Leon – my brother – he checks on me at midnight every night. If he finds you here, he'll kill you." Sora begins to tear up again, as if he actually cared about what happened to Riku. Riku nods, not quite understanding, but accepting all the same. He hops up on Sora's desk and checks the time. 11:59.

"Sorry for the trouble, Sora. I promise that you won't have to see me anytime soon." Riku says, before launching out the window, and into the darkness. Sora quickly rushes to the window, to see a streak of silver dart out into the streets and disappear into the darkness in between houses. Sora closes the window and locks it, rushing back to bed, shoving his homework to the floor, and shutting out his light.

Five minutes later, Leon peers into Sora's room, seeing nothing but his brother's supposedly sleeping figure. Leon could've sworn he heard Sora moving around and talking before, but hey, he's a teenage boy. As long as he respected the midnight curfew that Leon had set for him, he didn't mind. Sora could talk to as many friends on his phone as he wanted, as long as Leon didn't hear from any complaining parents.

Leon quickly shuts Sora's door, and turns out the hall light on his way to his own bedroom. Leon heads down to his own bedroom, and shuts his door behind him. Leon pulls out his cellphone and enters is contacts.

_Cloud_. Leon thinks. Leon scratches his stubby beard. He had forgotten to shave that morning, but no worries. He didn't have work until tomorrow. Leon clicks 'Send Message' on his phone under Cloud's name, and begins to type out a short, sweet message to Cloud, knowing that Cloud would still be awake. Cloud works the night shifts as the guard at the Twilight Town bank, so he should still be awake. Leon occasionally gets nervous for Cloud, after all, they are best friends. Hardly anyone attempts to rob the Twilight Town bank, and they are usually so inexperienced, it only takes one police officer to take them down. They always have two officers on guard, just in case, but they are hardly ever needed.

Leon turns off his bedside light and curls into the covers. He nudges into the pillow and is glad that the day hadn't been that bad. It was a Sunday. When Leon and Sora's parents are home, they go to church, but since their parents were away on a business trip, Leon and Sora slept in. At about eleven, Sora and Leon decided to go see a movie. It was a lame, overly action-packed movie. After the movie, Leon and Sora went to a late lunch at about 2 pm. After that, Leon took Sora shopping to get him a new keychain that he's been wanting. They then went to some other shop and got a few shirts for Sora. They went home after that, and Sora started on his homework. They had dinner at six and then settled down and watched TV.

Sora begged Leon for some sea-salt ice cream around nine, and pulled the puppy-dog face on Leon. Leon, being the older brother he is, couldn't say no, and Sora brought him a bowl too. At ten, they watched the news, like usual, then when it was over at 10:30, Sora headed up to bed. Leon heard him shuffle his backpack around, and figured Sora still had homework to do, so Leon turned on some sort of cheap late-night talk show.

Midnight rolled around, and Leon still heard Sora up and moving, shuffling around. As long as he was in bed when Leon checked on him, he wouldn't be upset. Leon figured Sora was still awake when he checked on him, but he wouldn't let Sora know that.

Now, Leon is in bed, his mind drifting off, entirely oblivious of what had happened in his own home. Leon sighs and wraps his covers even tighter around himself. In moments, Leon is asleep, but just down the hall, Sora lays awake, pondering the night's events.

Riku had leapt out of Sora's window, remotely disappointed that he had to leave. Meeting that kid hadn't been a disappointment at all. He was certainly different for the usual teenager. At first, he seemed relatively calm when Riku burst into his room, almost as if he were willing Riku to go away, but when Riku entered his room; he just entirely froze in fear.

Riku had figured he could have some fun with this kid, but of course he had to ensure he didn't call the cops of Riku, so he took his cellphone – _his cellphone!_ Riku had entirely forgotten to return it, as he intended to.

Riku couldn't go back for fear of being caught. He was nearly at his bike. From there, it would be a three-hour drive to reach Hollow Bastion. If he went back, Sora could've already called the police. If he continued to Hollow Bastion, he might never get the kid his cellphone back.

Riku decides, if only in self-preservation, that he has to go home. He has a large sum of cash, and plenty of people expecting him to bring it back home. Riku hates working for the Organization. He needs to though. They provide him food and shelter, and about 50% of whatever money he brings in, along with his base salary. Riku sighs in defeat, grabs his helmet, and hops on his motorcycle.

In one swift motion, Riku turns on his motorcycle and speeds out to the highway. He speeds past the few cars that are actually on the road, and makes it back to Hollow Bastion in record time – two hours. He slows down, pulling around the corner of the Organization's building.

Riku opens the garage to the building, and pulls his bike in. The garage closes automatically behind him, and he pulls his bike into his usual spot. Before he can get off the bike, Saïx is on his case.

"I assume you achieved the goal?" Saïx asks. Riku nods, pulling out the large trash bag that contains the money. "No casualties?" He asks.

"No sir. I did have to use chloroform on one of the officers on guard. The other guard was careless enough to be asleep in the guard room. I deleted any footage before he could wake up." Riku explains.

"Good." Saïx turns around. "You'll get your cut tomorrow. Get some sleep. You have another assignment tomorrow in Twilight Town." Saïx turns around and walks toward the elevator. Riku takes the key out of the motorcycle, and leave his helmet on his seat. So, if he'd be back in Twilight Town the next day, he'd be able to return Sora's cellphone!

Didn't he promise that he wouldn't bother the kid any further? Oh well. Riku never had been good at keeping promises. Riku wanders up the stairwell to his room. He is the last one back from their missions today. After all, he had to wait until night to strike. Axel is already in the next room, sleeping. Riku can hear him snoring through the wall.

Riku kicks open his door. Shrugging his coat off, Riku shuts the door behind him. Riku grabs Sora's phone out of his pocket. It's a small, blue phone. It's one of those phones that have the keypad and then a keyboard for texting that slides out. Riku places the phone on his night table, next to his own phone. Riku has a black smartphone. He paid for it himself, so why not treat himself?

Riku peels off the rest of his clothing, a black vest and black jeans. When you're in the Organization, you can hardly have any other clothing than black. Riku has one yellow vest. That's it for his colors. Demyx has a ton of blue, but mostly navy blue. Axel has a few red clothes that he'll occasionally wear.

Riku wanders into the shower, turning the heat up as high as it can go. He steps in, watching the rivulets of water drip down his body, and collect at the bottom of his feet, where they combine into a small stream, entering the drain. Riku washes up quickly, stepping out of the shower, and using his –of course black – towel to dry off. Riku glances at his clock to see that it is already three in the morning. If he's lucky, he can work in six hours of sleep. Of course, he's been trained to work on no sleep whatsoever, but whatever he can get, he'll take.

Riku hops into bed, and the last thing on his mind is Sora's quivering lip as he told Riku to leave.

"Sora! Get up!" Leon calls from the kitchen. Sora stirs in his bed, nearly rolling off it. Again. Sora whines as he pulls his covers off, reluctantly getting out of bed. He goes to get out of his bed, and nearly steps on his backpack. Sora wonders briefly why he put his backpack there, when all of a sudden, last night's event came to his mind.

_It was just a dream. It was just a dream._ Sora repeats in his head. That was the only answer. It was the most vivid, scary dream of his life, but it was a dream. Sora stuffs his homework into his backpack, and starts for the kitchen. Sora walks down the stairs, and turns to the right, to see Leon 'slaving' over his pancakes. Good ol' Leon.

"Morning Sora. Yes, it's Monday. No, you can't go back to sleep." Leon says, breaking the bad news after Sora has already seen the pancakes. It lessens the blow. Sora grabs a plate, and some syrup, thinking over his dream last night.

That's the only sense it could make. What kind of a robber wants a haircut? Seriously. Sora walks over to Leon, who plops four pancakes onto Sora's plate. Sora wanders, dazed, back to the kitchen table.

Leon quickly finishes up with his pancakes, and joins Sora at the table.

"How did you sleep last night?" Leon asks Sora. Every morning he asks, to make sure the nightmares don't come back. Sora's face pales. Leon still for a moment, waiting for Sora to answer.

"Fine." Sora tells him, and resumes eating. Leon examines the bags under Sora's eyes, and he immediately knows that he is lying.

"Sora. How bad was it?" Leon asks, not even mentioning the word 'nightmare.' Even that word alone could cause Sora to break down.

"It wasn't normal. Not bad – strange." Leon sighed in relief. As long as it didn't get as bad as it used to.

"Okay. Let me know if it gets worse." Leon sighs in resignation this time. Now he'd have to sleep lightly, and make sure that Sora wasn't having worse nightmares. Sora finishes his pancakes quickly, and places his dish in the sink.

"I'm going to go get changed." Sora tells Leon, before heading up the stairs.

"Okay. I'll drive you to school today, if you want." Leon tells Sora, leaning back in his chair. Leon pushes his last pancake around on his plate. Leon glances at the time. Work doesn't start until noon, and it's only seven in the morning. Maybe he could get a workout in before work. Leon works as a contractor for the city, and has his own private practice. He gets to pick his own hours, which is great, considering he needs to set aside time for Sora.

Sora enters his room and flicks on his light. He fixes his covers, and props up his pillows, before he goes to throw out a candy wrapper he had left from a few nights ago. Sora walks over to the garbage, only to stop when he reaches it. The entire trash can is silver. It looks like there are silk strands in his garbage, until he remembers the night before. That was – what was his name? – Riku's hair.

It wasn't a dream. Someone had actually gotten into Sora's room. He seemed nice enough, even helped Sora with his homework, but he was distressed. Of course, the one night he doesn't lock his window, someone breaks in.

Sora sits down on the edge of his bed, before launching himself back up as he realizes that's where the intruder sat. Sora kneels on the ground, and begins to cry. His worst nightmares had come true. He could've _died_ last night. In his mind, he took that much calmer than he thought he did.

Now the real question: should he tell Leon or not? It's too late for Leon to actually do anything. Plus, there's no proof that he was actually here beside the hair in the trashcan. Sora is consumed and swarmed by his own thoughts. He weighs out the pros and cons, and before he knows it, Leon is knocking on his door.

"Sora, you okay in there? We have to leave in ten minutes!" Leon warns Sora. Sora puts on a brave face. He can't tell Leon. If he tells Leon, then the police have to get involved. Sora wouldn't be able to be in his room while they investigated, not to mention that Sora didn't know how dangerous this man was. Cloud, who was like a second brother to Sora could get hurt.

"I'm fine, Leon. Just- wardrobe issues!" Sora gets up and tosses the candy wrapper out. Sora wanders over to his closet and picks out a red shirt, black hoodie, his usual belt, and jeans. The belt is yellow, and his jeans are black. Sure, blame the kid for having an interesting fashion sense.

Sora sighs and packs up his backpack. He goes to grab his cellphone off of his night table, but can't find it. Sora finds his jeans from the night before, and goes to check the pockets, but his phone isn't in there either.

Realization dawns on Sora's face, as the blood rushes out of it. Riku took his cellphone. What if he had an emergency and couldn't reach Leon? What if Leon called and Riku answered? How was Sora supposed to even explain how he lost his cellphone?

Sora paces the room for a few minutes, and comes up with a plan. He'll tell Leon he left it in Hayner's car when they were coming back from Struggle practice. Sora nods, hoping his excuse is good enough. He hopes Leon doesn't ask though, and then he won't have to lie.

Sora shoulders his bag and opens up the door to his room. He walks down the stairs and smiles at Leon. He hopes it is convincing enough. Leon figures that Sora is just putting on a brave face after having a nightmare.

Leon grabs his car keys, and they head out the door. Sora relishes in the early morning air, with the birds chirping around everywhere. It's usually really beautiful, but it doesn't seem as much when you are constantly reminded that you had a casual conversation with a criminal the night before. Not to mention a criminal that breaks into your house.

Sora opens the car door, and gets in the passenger side, placing his backpack on his lap. Sora buckled himself up as Leon started the car. Leon pulled out, mildly rushed, and headed down to the school.

"Riku." Saix's voice boomed. "You mission today is to go to Twilight Town High School. You are going to blend in among the students. We have reason to believe that several teachers are planning an attack against up. Attempt to take their leader down. Axel will assist you in your mission. You have two months to infiltrate and eliminate the threat. I trust you can handle this. Do not mess up." With that, Saix hands Riku the necessary paperwork, and the money he made from the haul the night before. "Axel has already secured an apartment for the two of you to stay in, just off of Station Street. He will be there when you arrive. Your room number is 310. I trust that you will be able to find it. The building is called 'The Station.' Now go, Riku."

Riku nods in understanding and walks up to his room to pack. It is a public school, so there is no dress code, so Riku figures he's going to have to go shopping when he arrives. It would be suspicious for him to show up every day wearing black.

Riku puts on his normal coat, and stuffs both Sora's and his cellphone into his pocket. If he was going to Sora's school now, he'd be able to return the phone. Riku's heart skips a beat as he thinks of seeing Sora again. He wonders how Sora will react. He'd probably try to tell the teachers at first, but it wouldn't help.

Riku knows that Axel is going to have to drive them both into school every day. Riku technically isn't supposed to have a license yet, but when you're with the Organization, you get away with a lot. Riku packs his favorite sneakers, along with his yellow vest. Just in case, he tosses his rifle in there too. Riku takes his favorite obsidian knife, and sticks it into the sheath on his belt that is conveniently hidden by his coat. Riku also grabs his favorite handgun and shove it in the holster on the other side of his belt.

Riku zips up his bag, and heads down to the stairwell. He didn't leave anything valuable behind, so he is ready to go. If anyone from the Organization needs him, they have his number. Riku secures the duffel bag onto the back of his bike, and puts his helmet on. Safety first, right?

Riku opens the garage, and once more, it closes automatically as he pulls out onto the streets of Hollow Bastion. This was going to be a great day. Too bad he'd be late to his new school.

**A/N: ****So, let me know in a review, do you likey? Do you think I should just scrap it? Constructive criticism is more than welcome! I'm going to try and stay on top of my writing, not just writing when I get a school break. Although, if that's what happens, you can expect like, five stories to be finished this summer!**

**So yeah, I'm kind of proud of this story thus far, and there'll be a pretty cute moment coming up soon, so don't worry!**

**-hands out chocolate chip cookies-**

**NOW REVIEW OR DIE!**

**JK love you guys.**

**-Sea Salt Princess**


	2. Chapter 2: Surprise

**A/N: Okay, I know this is about half the size of the last chapter, but whatevs, amirite?**

**Right?**

**No? Okay...**

**But anywho, this chapter, like the last could use a little revision from me, but I just wanted to get it out there. I have a real itching to start another fic right now, and I'm getting kind of distracted. I don't want to let that take away from this story, so I think I'll leave this for the rest of the day.**

**I'll be working on The Journey of the Sun and the Moon and Crimson Rivers either later today, or tomorrow, so keep your eyes open. I can't guarantee that I'll have much writing done after Easter, and in very worst case scenario, won't have anything out until this summer. The next break I have after this one is for Memorial Day. Yeah, I know. A long way away, and it'd only be three days. Most weekends (which are my only free time) I have a crapoola of homework, like you wouldn't believe. Yaay honors classes /sarcasm/. I promise to all of you right here and now, That I will try my hardest to get out more chapters! And I'll try to do a little more writing during the week! I promise I won't let you all down again! **

**Chapter 2:**** Surprise**

"Hey Sora!" A familiar voice calls from down the hallway. Sora's school was the generic High School. Dirty, packed, and filled with teenagers who really need to shower more often. Sora shuts his locker after grabbing all of the books he was going to need for the day. He turns around, to see Roxas standing right behind him. Roxas and Sora were constantly being told how similar they looked. If they had the same hair, they could pass off as twins. Roxas smiled his usual, small smile. He never had the same intense, stop-the-world smile as Sora constantly had, which was another small difference between them.

"Hey Roxas!" Sora shifts the book he is holding to one arm, to capture Roxas in a hug. This was their morning ritual. Every morning they'd get their stuff and hug, then talk about the day or weekend before, and their plans for the rest of the day.

"How are you?" Roxas asks, shifting his backpack to a more comfortable position. Sora is about to stuff the rest of his books into his backpack when he sees his Geometry homework. The same homework that Riku helped him with. Sora pauses for a moment, and it catches Roxas's attention. "You didn't have a nightmare, did you?" Roxas inquires, cocking his head slightly in curiosity. Sora feels the urge to tell the truth bubbling up inside of him. It takes all of Sora's willpower to continue packing his back, and getting ready for class and not tell Roxas.

"No. It wasn't a nightmare." Sora starts, hoping that Roxas will buy his flimsy, lame excuse. If anything, he hopes that Roxas will put it off until later. Sora zips up his backpack, and shouldering it, makes eye contact with Roxas. He half-pleads through his eyes to drop it. He doesn't know how much more of this secret he can keep veiled before he lets it all out. Well, figuratively. Sorry, but Sora's keeping his pants on. For now.

"Fine. Don't tell me. If you want to talk about it though, let me know." Roxas's eyes remain firmly fixed on Sora's, determined. Roxas seems to search Sora's features, but resigns himself when he finds nothing. They wander off to class, shoving their way through teenagers that happen to get in the way.

"Seifer got into a fight with Hayner again yesterday. For once, they both seem pretty bruised." Roxas says, no longer making eye contact with Sora. Roxas turns his face away from Sora, as if to hide his emotions. Sora waves to Kairi as she passes by the cousins. Kairi stops the cousins for a moment.

"Hey you two! Did you know that there are supposed to be two new students today? No one knows their names, but they should be here somewhere! I'm looking for them now! Okay ciao!" Kairi waves behind her head to the cousins. Sora and Roxas share a look, curiosity passing through their brief eye contact.

"I wonder who they could be. If we see them, we should say 'hi.'" Sora tells, his usual challenge-the-sun-cause-my-smile-is-that-bright smile breaking across his face. If anything could move him past last night's events, two new students surely would! Roxas reads his expression and smiles sadly back to Sora. Roxas knows that something is still up, but he won't confront Sora about it anymore. Sora has the right to privacy, just as much as Roxas does.

Roxas smiles to himself. He knows that he has to track down these new students and introduce Sora to them. Maybe they can be the solution to Sora's nightmares. When he and Sora were eleven years old, and a robber had taken Sora hostage in a small robbery, Sora's nightmares started. We had all figured that they'd go away, but a year had passed and nothing changed. For another six months or so, Sora saw a counselor who prescribed these supposed 'dreamless drugs' that had only intensified and locked Sora into his dreams. After a week he stopped those. Leon pushed Sora to continue seeing the counselor. After six months, and no improvement, Leon and Roxas couldn't think of anything else to help Sora. They wanted to do whatever they could, but at midnight every night, Leon would be woken up to Sora screaming and entering his room, seeking refuge. Then, about six months after that, Sora just stopped having nightmares. Just like that. No one knows how it happened, it just did.

Ever since then, Roxas and Leon have been watching for a relapse, which never occurred. Up until now, as they believed. Roxas believes that if he kept Sora happy by meeting these new kids, the relapse will stop.

Sora reaches his class as the warning bell rings. "Bye Rox! See you later!" Sora calls from the doorway, as Roxas rushes to his class which is further down the hallway. Sora sits down in his seat. Since there were an odd number of students in his class, Sora was unlucky to have the only empty desk. Sora's first class is biology, and he nearly wishes he had friends in this class. Then, at least he wouldn't be the one without a lab partner. Every time.

Sora takes out his biology homework and places it in the empty space next to his seat, and he pulls out his notebook. They have more notes to take today. Wonderful. Sora hates biochemistry, just like any student with a conscience. The stuff is torture. Sora leans on his hand, half sprawled out across the table.

The teacher hardly glances at the students' homework before walking back up to the front of the class. He begins to call out names, and when he finishes, he declares that he needs to make an announcement.

"We will be having a new student in this class within the next few days. Sora, since you have the only open seat, they will sit next to you. Understood? Good. Now, carboxyl groups…" The teacher seemed to drone on and on as Sora zoned out of what the teacher was saying. All of this carboxyl-hydroxyl-amino-acid-group nonsense drives him crazy. He hates biochemistry with a passion.

Sora zones back in, halfway through the lesson. Just as the teacher is beginning to discuss ionic bonds, someone knocks at the door. _Saved by the… door… I guess_. Sora thinks to himself. Sora smirks, laughing to himself. He really didn't like biochemistry.

Although, he didn't think his life could get any worse as an all too familiar, sickening feeling crossed Sora when he saw who entered the room.

"Alright. This is our new student, everyone. Please go to the back of the room and sit next to the spiky-haired, zoned-out, brunet in the back. He will be your lab partner." The teacher booms. At the teacher's description of Sora, the new student's attention is drawn, and teal and cerulean eyes meet again.

_Riku._

Riku smirks from the front of the class. _Didn't he-? Wasn't he-? If this is a nightmare, wake me up now._ Sora thinks to himself. How was he supposed to be strong when the source of his terror was once again, going to be within a mile radius of Sora throughout the day? Riku strolls down the aisle, and girls practically swoon as he passes them. Sora is frozen, and can feel the tension back in his shoulders. If he could have run, he should have, because he was feeling just like a trapped animal.

"Hello, _stranger_, didn't think I'd have any classes with you." Riku practically breathes down Sora's neck, as he takes his seat next to Sora. Sora can feel himself shaking, heck, he could see his hands shaking.

Without necessarily thinking about it, Sora pulls his homework over to his half of the lab table to make room for Riku._ Keep it together, Leonhart. Keep it together._ Sora tells himself. _You can't have a conniption here. _Sora grasps the bottom of his chair, ignoring the chewed gum that he knows is there. Sora can feel how pale he is, and can feel the panicked expression on his face.

This criminal was in his school! In his class! How was this possible? Riku looks over to Sora and smiles kindly. If Sora didn't know that he had broken into his house, he would've believed that Riku was entirely innocent. Sora had a sneaking suspicion he had just gotten away from a previous crime, but he didn't know what. Riku could very well be a murderer too. His threat last night certainly made it seem so. Riku studies Sora for a moment before raising his hand. The teacher, hardly missing a beat, calls on Riku.

"Sir, Sora doesn't look too good. Do you mind if I help him to the nurse. I think I saw it on the way in." Riku explains. Sora doesn't want any help from Riku. If Sora had planned to go to the nurse, he was more than capable of making it there on his own.

"Well, considering there is less than half the lesson left and you most likely don't know any of this and have nothing to lose, go. Sora, you look god-awful. I don't expect you back in class today." With that, the teacher resumes teaching. Riku looks at Sora, who is in a fit of shaking. Riku wonders briefly if he is having a seizure, but he is much too aware of the situation to be having a seizure. Riku picks up Sora's papers and, taking Sora's bag, shoves them into the first pouch of Sora's backpack.

Riku zips Sora's backpack up, and taking his own relatively light bag, and Sora's heavy bag, he helps Sora leave the room. As soon as Sora is just down the hallway, and away from the classroom, Riku spins and pushes Sora flush against the wall.

"What the _hell _is going on?" Riku asks, his voice fierce and his eyes seeming brighter. His face is halfway angry and halfway 's knees shake as Riku looks him dead in the eyes. Sora can feel a tear running down his cheek. Why couldn't one night of facing his nightmare be enough? Now his nightmare was going to be at his school? In Sora's classes!

Sora shakes his head. He can't trust his voice to speak, or at least say anything that won't get him killed. Sora only then becomes aware that Riku's hands are on either side of his face, and that Riku's face is relatively close to his. Unless he had some sort of third arm in his chest that was holding a knife, he was safe enough.

Sora's shaking tones down just a bit, but his head is still spinning. Sora feels weak, and he leans against the wall for more support. Sora panics just a little, having a criminal so close to him. Even though he knows that for the moment he is safe, the fact that Riku could probably kill him with his hands alone didn't really assure Sora of his safety.

"Sora? C'mon. Listen, can I at least explain everything to you? _Please."_ Riku's eyes beg, and Sora feels slightly calmer. Riku rests one of his hands on Sora's shoulder. "Oh, by the way," Riku starts, and he shifts to grab something from his vest. Sora takes that small moment to examine Riku. He's wearing baggy blue jeans, and a yellow vest with straps that cross in an 'X.' Riku's hair that Sora had cut is still choppy, and his bangs that he cut were fairly choppy too. His entire look made him seem like a dangerous, and dare Sora say it, _sexy_ teenager.

Sora then remembers that Riku is pulling something out of his pocket. Sora has no idea what it could be, but figures that it's a knife and that Riku is about to kill him. Sora can feel his face contort into a look of panic, and he begins to squirm. Riku pulls out some small object, and looks up to Sora. His eyes sparkle with curiosity upon meeting Sora's.

"Your phone." Riku finishes. Sora pauses for a second. _Duh! Riku had his phone!_ Sora reprimands his mind for jumping ahead and assuming Riku would kill him. What had Riku said last night? _'If I wanted you dead, you would've been dead the moment I climbed in your window._' Right. So, maybe Sora could milk this whole not-being-dead thing for a little while longer. Sora retracts himself into his mind momentarily. He knows that he has to treat this like his nightmares. After all, this is a nightmare come true. Sora tells himself that he'll be alright. He doesn't have anything to worry about. Sora is vaguely aware of Riku examining him, but Sora has closed his eyes. He is focusing on stopping shaking. If he can get close to Riku, he can call the police and get him arrested. Sora stops his shaking and opens his eyes again. _Brave face_. Sora tells himself.

Sora reaches out and grabs his phone from Riku, and shoves it in his pocket. He nods at Riku. Sora still doesn't trust himself to speak, and he hopes that his nod will get his thanks along. Riku nods back in understanding, and he nearly smiles before he wipes it off of his face. Sora was at least somewhat warming up to him. He didn't want to blow it now.

Riku pulled his hand away from Sora's shoulder. He took a step back, and Sora gave him a curious look. Surely Sora didn't think that Riku still wanted to kill him, right? _It's kind of endearing. Although, it is good that he doesn't trust me. Actually, it's very good._ Riku tells himself. Riku knows that he isn't worthy of trust. Not after what he has to do on a regular basis. He is a thief and occasionally a murderer. He tried to avoid killing anyone though. The Organization says it gets messy, but for Riku, it messes with his mind for weeks after. That's why he'd much rather use other methods to subdue whoever he had to. Riku didn't want to be a killer. It was his job though. 'Eliminate anything standing in your way' or 'achieve your goal by any means.' Riku hated those missions. That usually meant that lives were going to be lost.

Riku wants to be a different person. Someone who Sora isn't afraid of. Someone who deserves trust. Riku gets an idea as he thinks this. He adjusts Sora's backpack on his back. It's pretty heavy compared to Riku's backpack.

"Hey Sora?" Riku asks, looking at Sora who is staying by the wall. Sora can't move. Not only from fear, but after that shaking bout, he didn't trust himself to move and not fall over. Sora decides that he might as well try to speak to Riku, if he wants to get on his good side. He had to find a way to expose Riku to the police. Maybe he could tell Cloud when he got the chance. Cloud would be able to arrest Riku.

"Yeah?" Sora responds, his voice hardly a whisper. Riku notices this, but he decides to keep talking. Sora talking to him at all is a major improvement.

"Can we start over? I mean, I didn't even know I'd be going to school until this morning. I honestly didn't think I'd see you again. I'm sorry for everything." Riku says, looking at the ground. He notices that Sora is wearing giant sneakers. He'd ask Sora about that later. Riku looks up briefly to Sora's face. Sora seems deep in thought, as if he wasn't going to talk to Riku at all. Riku hopes that Sora will say yes, and accept his apology, because it came from Riku's cold, murderous heart, but his heart nonetheless.

"Okay." Sora says, after taking a deep breath. He seems to have come to terms with something, as he meets Riku's gaze and sends him a weak smile. Riku can tell that he's trying, but it sends Riku's heart flying. Yes, that same cold, murderous heart just warmed up a little. Riku returns Sora's smile with a little more vigor.

"You think you need to go see the nurse?" Riku asks Sora. Sora's expressive face amuses Riku. Sora's lip pouts in thought. Sora cocks his head to the side a little in thought too. Riku smiles even more at Sora's actions. Sora, who catches this, gives Riku a questioning look. Sora can still feel a knot in his stomach telling him to get far away from Riku, but he knows his only chance at justice is getting Riku locked up.

"I think I'm fine, but my-our teacher told me not to come back, so you want to just stay here for a while?" Sora offers the whole staying-in-place idea because he doesn't think that he can move again. Riku seems to have that effect on him. Riku nods in acknowledgement and sits down next to Sora, taking both backpacks off, and leaning against the wall. Sora leans against the wall, and slowly sinks his way down to the ground. The science hall is fairly secluded, and no one really comes down the hallway, and since TTHS is relatively small anyway, Sora knew he and Riku wouldn't be bothered. Sora presses his knees into his chest, and wraps his arms around them. Sora sighs, attempting to relieve the tension in him.

He was surprised that Riku had asked to start again. Sora still knew he was some sort of criminal. He wouldn't – no, couldn't – trust Riku. What if this was all just some sort of plot to do some horrible thing to Sora? Sora could feel the panic seeping in again, and his hands had begun shaking. He wasn't going to be able to deal with this anymore. He could feel it in his bones – the nightmares were going to come back. Sora sighed again, a choked sob rocking his body. He was terrified. Leon would make him go back to the therapist, and then the therapist would prescribe the pills that intensified his dreams again.

Sora had begun shaking again, which drew Riku's attention. Riku looked over at Sora. Sora didn't notice Riku's gaze on him. He was too busy trying to quell the panic building up inside his heart. Riku pressed a gentle hand against Sora's arm. Sora's shaking began to shake Riku's arm. Riku felt his heart clench. He wanted to comfort Sora, but he was afraid that he was the reason Sora was like this.

Sora didn't react to Riku's touch whatsoever, which sent panic racing through Riku's veins. Sora was the only one he knew at this school so far, and might even have some insight on his mission. He had to earn the boy's trust somehow.

Riku pulled Sora into him. Sora, still shaking, buried his face into Riku's chest. At that point, Sora didn't care who it was, the comfort was nice. So what if he was snuggling up against a criminal? That criminal offered comfort and Sora took it. Sora attempts to control his fear, but each time he manages to take a step forward, his fear pulls him back ten. Sora has always been tempted to just give in, but that's not who he is. He continues to fight his fear, and he fights it tooth and nail.

Riku gives Sora a pat on the back, lightly. He whispers comforting words into Sora's ear. Riku is slightly surprised that Sora accepted his comfort, but he had a feeling that the kid was in a bad place at the moment. Riku sighs, and Sora nudges into Riku a little bit. Riku's heart swells, and he smiles sadly as Sora's shaking subsides.

They still have another ten minutes or so until they have their next classes. Riku has no idea where or what for that matter, his next class is. Riku runs his fingers through Sora's hair, and earns a small mewling sound from the smaller boy. Riku smiles until he hears footsteps approaching from down the hall. Riku is instantly on guard before he even sees the figure. Riku sees a tall, muscular teenager who must have been seventeen. He has blonde hair that just barely sticks out of his beanie, a vest that hardly covers past his stomach, loose brown pants, and dark boots. Not to mention the giant-ass scar across his face, but that was nothing compared to Saix's scar. He glances over at Sora and Riku, and Riku prepares to lunge at him. He can tell by his entire demeanor that this man is up to no good.

"Hey, lamer, where's chickenwuss?" The man asks Sora. _Oh hell no._ Call Riku possessive, but nobody can insult Sora. He had just started some sort of not-quite-friendship with the boy, and he wasn't about to let anyone or anything come in the way of that. Sora looks up, defeated at the man. Sora sighs into Riku. He examines Seifer before saying anything at all. Riku looks to Sora for any sign that would mean 'jump in and kick his ass.'

"He's in Geometry, Seifer. Probably with Roxas, like usual." Sora replies to the man – Seifer – before curling back into Riku.

"For fuck's sake." Seifer complains before hitting his head against his palm. "Lamer, I knew that. I know he's around here in these halls. Keep your eyes open. Goddamn lamers." Seifer turns around, muttering something to himself about needing to beat someone up. Riku resists the urge to get up and pound his face in, but it is his first day. He can only start causing issues on the second day.

Sora glances at the watch on his wrist to check the time. He sighs, and separates from Riku. His face flushes a tiny bit, and he sighs in defeat.

"I'm sorry you had to see… all of that. It doesn't usually happen. Only when I'm really scared." Sora explains, glancing at the floor in shame. He runs his fingers through his hair, demolishing a spike, just for it to jump back into place. Riku smirks. Sora's hair seems to have a mind of its own.

"Sora, listen, I know that I'm the reason this started, and I swear that I'll do whatever I can to end it." Riku tells Sora, sincerity flashing in his eyes. Sora leans over and grabs his backpack. Riku may be a criminal, but Sora had a fondness for this criminal. "You don't have to go to your next class if you don't want. I'm sure we can convince the nurse to let you go home." Riku says, shouldering his own bag and standing up. Sora stands up mere moments after Riku. Sora shakes his head. He didn't want Leon to know. Not yet, at least. Riku nods. "By the way, can you show me to my English class?" Riku asks Sora, and Sora nods. They have five minutes until their next class, and Sora is more than willing to go out of his way to help Riku find his class.

They walk quietly, side-by-side. Riku knows that he doesn't need any help finding his class, but he doesn't want to leave Sora alone. He feels a sense of responsibility for Sora. He shouldn't have hung around his house the night before that would be enough to terrify most people. Sora though, he was beyond terrified, and Riku was scared that he caused it. He would do anything to make it up to the boy. Anything.

**A/N:**** Their relationship is weird, yes, but it works for them. Don't worry. It's not happening that fast. There'll be some issues in the next chapter or so, don't fear! I haven't gone all mushy on you guise!**

**-hands out cookies- Enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3: Restart

**A/N:**** Okay, so I know this is a week late or whatever, but I got it up didn't I? I blame tumblr. Seriously. I only just got a tumblr, and I'm fucking obsessed. Then I got into Death Note, and couldn't stop watching that up until yesterday. Then I had a serious anime craving and started watching K yesterday. I finished it today, and spent a good twenty or so minutes crying. Overall, these two animes have made me cry for a good hour this week. So, I got this up today and I'm liking it sooooo much better than the previous chapters. So, I hope you guys like this. I wrote about 2000 words more for you guys to make up for it being a week late. It was 11 FRIGGIN PAGES so I hope you like it.**

**Don't forget to R&R for cookies! -holds out freshly baked cookies-**

**Chapter 3:**** Restart**

It turned out that Sora and Riku had six classes together. The only classes that they didn't have together were their second, fourth, and fifth period classes. It was currently 8th hour, only 9th hour left, and Sora and Riku were in gym together.

"Sora! To your left!" Riku calls to Sora, who is trying to get away from one of the faster students in the grade. Sora stops running for a minute, and then runs to his left, diagonally, to throw his pursuer off. It works, but only momentarily. The boy chasing him though is only a little further back than before though. It was good enough for Sora though. Sora just barely managed to get to the end zone and score the winning touchdown.

Gym class is nearly over, and there wouldn't be enough time to get to play another round. The boys on Sora's team huddled around him, and cheered. The other team headed towards the locker room, dejected. Riku stood off to the side, smiling complacently to himself. Sora had a lot of extra energy that he needed to get out, and he was glad that he had gym. All that pent-up confusion and stress over the past day or so had managed to come out during the game. The idea of Riku being here worried him though.

Sora swallowed past a lump in his throat, as he headed towards the locker room, along with the rest of his team. Riku made him extremely nervous. Sora just couldn't understand how someone could break the law so easily. It didn't even look like Riku was bothered at all. Sora held the door open as he entered the locker room for the boys behind him.

Sora hurried over to his locker, hoping to avoid Riku. After that moment he had in the hallway, he was just about done with Riku. Riku hadn't even known him for a day, and knew of his problems. Well, he was aware of them. He didn't exactly know them, or even why Sora freaked out.

Sora throw his locker door open with a loud crashing noise as the faded, discolored, kelly green lockers collide. Sora quickly pulls off his shirt, and stuffs it into his locker. He then pulls out his normal shirt, and attempts to untwist his shirt. Sora spots a figure out of the corner of his eye, waiting against a locker for him. Riku. Geez, couldn't the guy take a hint? He was stressing Sora out. Is it not bad enough that the boy is the stuff of Sora's nightmares and has nearly all the same classes?

Sora sighs. He manages to untwist his shirt and slide it on, his cinnamon spikes bouncing as they pop through the opening in the shirt. Sora blushes as he pulls his gym shorts off. He begins to slide them down, and part of his boxers start to come with. His entire hip is exposed before he fixes it. Sora looks over to Riku, who is staring in a trance at Sora. Sora blushes brightly, and slides his jeans back on.

As Sora slams the ugly locker shut, Riku seems to come back to reality. His eyes seem a little darker to Sora, and Sora can't help but notice how he uncomfortably shifts. Sora blushes further, not even wanting to know what the criminal was thinking. Sora thought about his next class instead. Art.

Sora is fond of his art class. He had always been a relatively good artist, even from when he was a child. He didn't like to draw stick figure people when he was little. He never understood why the other kids drew them. They were anything but realistic.

Sora loves his art class, though. Just the way he can manipulate a pencil to draw whatever he wishes. The way the paint flows from one object to another. Art always took Sora's mind off of his life. When Sora had his worst nightmares, drawing and painting always took his mind off of them. He could paint and draw and not think. Just focus on mixing his colors and decorating the canvas.

Sora glances over at Riku. Riku is just staring straight ahead, avoiding making contact with any of the students who are pushing their way through the hallways. The hallways weren't _that_ crowded – high school students just don't have manners. Sora examines Riku's face. It is tight, as if stressed, and his eyes seem fixed on one point. Sora tries to follow his line of vision, and he sees a shock of red hair among the high school students. The man was wearing a formal suit, and had his hair pulled back into a ponytail. His bangs hung into his face though, and he had tattoos on his cheekbones, like red triangles or war paint.

Riku's eyes meet the man's, and he freezes for a moment, his face paling more than Sora ever thought possible. They seem to have a silent eye-conversation, and Riku looks over to Sora.

"Hey So, I'll meet you in class, okay? I have to… do something… Tell the teacher that I'll be about ten minutes late. Make something up for me, 'kay?" Sora nods, and Riku darts off into a hallway. Sora briefly wonders if Riku will be able to find his way to class, but then he remembers that he isn't supposed to care. After all, Riku is a criminal.

Sora gets to class just before the bell rings, and takes his seat. He pulls out his sketch book and begins to draw. The current project that the teacher assigned was to draw two imaginary people in an imaginary place. She wants to test the students' creative capabilities. Sora knows that he has until the end of the week to get this project done.

Sora began his initial sketch. He was going to have to make a new one later, and then paint his newer sketch, but he needed a plan of some sort first. Sora thought for a few moments, and couldn't think of anything. The teacher began to call roll, and Sora quickly told her that Riku was going to be late. She nodded, accepting Sora's excuse that he had to go to the office to fill out some paperwork.

Sora tries to focus on his work, to no avail. He keeps glancing at the clock, counting the seconds that Riku is late. Well, later than he should have been. Riku turns out to be fifteen minutes late to class, and he has a forming bruise on his face. He takes a seat next to Sora wordlessly, and pulls out a piece of paper.

The teacher walks over to Riku, welcoming him. She explains the project that the class is doing. Riku nods, and sets to work. Great. Riku's been in the class for a total of two minutes and already has more work done than Sora.

Sora turns his face back to his paper, and begins to draw. He draws whatever comes to his mind, just focusing on drawing the lines, not so much what he is drawing overall. He vaguely remembers wondering if he should draw flowers or not, and decides against it.

Sora leans back and stretches. He glances at the bland, classic analog clock on the wall. Only five more minutes. Five more minutes until he is home free. Well, for the most part. He still has homework to do. Not to mention that he has to find a way to meet up with Roxas without getting him into this mix. Sora gulps rather loudly, which gains a look from Riku.

Sora notices the bruise behind the boy's bangs. The same bangs that he wouldn't let Sora touch. The bruise stands out on the boy's pale features. Riku's eyes narrow at Sora's examination, but he settles back down and gets back to work. Sora looks down at his own work. He sees two shadowed figures standing in a doorway, and behind them is only light. He didn't draw any of the features of the figures, but he seems to think the one that is leaning against the door is a guy, and the person with what seems to be her back facing the viewer is a girl.

Sora has no idea why he drew what he drew, but it seems to strike a chord that resonates inside of him. He feels as if he knew these people, even though he has no recollection of anyone who looks like this. Sora smiles at the picture. These people might be out of his imagination, but he feels as if he has a connection with them. Sora looks up to the clock to see that there are only two minutes left in class.

Two minutes until he and Roxas meet at the front entrance. Two minutes until Sora is done with Riku for the day. Two minutes until Sora is home free. Sora shuts his sketchbook, a pang of guilt hitting him. He surely couldn't just ditch Riku here, could he?

As if on cue, Riku turns to Sora. He smiles a warm smile, but Sora feels sick to his stomach. That is the smile of a _killer_. Riku is not some innocent teenager. He is just as likely to kill Sora as Sora is to break down when he gets home – which is a very high chance, mind you. "Hey, So, I told a friend that I'd meet up with him at the front entrance, you wouldn't mind taking me there, would you?" Riku softens his smile, but Sora grimaces. Great. _Just_ perfect. Sora was going to have to bring Riku to the front entrance, where Sora had to go anyway. Then, Riku would see Roxas, Roxas would notice how stressed Sora would look, and Roxas would be dragged into this all. Sora felt like he wanted to puke.

Roxas could get hurt. What if Roxas somehow deduced that Riku was a criminal and tried to turn him in? What if Riku hurt Roxas? No. Sora wouldn't allow that. He couldn't. Sora can't run the risk of his cousin getting hurt. Sora must deal with this on his own. He'll have to fake a smile – do whatever it takes – to make sure that Roxas stays out of this.

"S-sure." Sora says, swallowing past a lump in his throat. He could feel his hands shake again, but he stopped them. He couldn't put Roxas at risk. Riku nods to Sora to show his gratitude. Sora nods back vacantly. He is excruciatingly nervous but he isn't trembling. _That is the first step_, Sora supposes. If he wants to keep Roxas safe, he is going to have to lie, and lie he will.

The bell rings, and Sora gathers his materials, thrusting them into his backpack with as little care as possible. He numbly zips his backpack closed, and exits the room, knowing that Riku will soon follow. Sora intends to make as little contact with Riku as possible on the way out, so as to avoid any more stress. Sora weaves his way in between students who are lounging about in the hallway. That was the only benefit of being short. He could worm his way through the crowds with few issues.

Sora didn't even look back to see if Riku was following. That was Riku's problem now. Sora wanted to get out of the school as soon as possible. Preferably, without Riku.

Sora sees Roxas standing at the front entrance, next to some red head. It wasn't the same redhead as before. This one has the same bright red hair, but it is spiked up, like a porcupine. Roxas makes eye contact with Sora and smiles. Sora gives a weak smile back, and rushes through the remaining crowd to Roxas's side.

"Hey Sora! This is Axel. He just came here today." Sora's face brightens as Roxas tells him this. He doesn't acknowledge the fact that he's probably with Riku. He's a new student, so Sora smiles brightly at him.

"Hi Axel! I'm Sora. Nice to meet you!" Sora waves his hand at Axel, the redhead, and Axel stands back a little. He is a bit frightened by the boy's forwardness. Axel stepped closer to Roxas, and Roxas blushes. Axel's eyes trail past Sora's spikes and meet with a set of angry looking aquamarine eyes. Axel runs a hand through his hair and sighs. Now Riku was mad with him for whatever reason. Wonderful.

"Axel." An infuriated, cold voice calls from behind Sora. Sora's shoulders tense as the figure approaches. Sora's hands clench into fists to suppress the tremors that are running through his body. Roxas catches onto this, and his eyes accuse Sora. Sora knows that Roxas is intuitive and that soon he is going to pick up on what is happening to Sora.

Axel's face tightens into a frown, his eyes meeting Riku's yet again. What is that he detects in Riku's eyes? _Jealousy?_ Axel smirks inwardly. Oh, he was going to have fun exploiting that.

"Yes, Riku?" Axel give an all-knowing smirk to Riku, and Riku's glare increases. Riku's frown increases, and his eyes seem to ice over further. Sora is still tense, and Roxas is fidgety. Sora grimaces as Riku stands next to him, and realization dawns on Roxas's face.

"So, Sora, I see you've met my _dear_ friend Axel." Riku's voice is dripping with venom, and Sora cringes. Roxas unconsciously assumes a defensive position. Axel glances at Roxas, curiosity sparking in his emerald eyes.

Roxas feels the tense vibes coming off of Sora, and he narrows his eyes in suspicion at Riku. Sora doesn't trust him, and he's a new student. That is extremely uncommon. Sora loves everyone.

"Hey, Sora, isn't Cloud coming over today? We should get going." Roxas reaches forward, grabbing Sora's wrist. He pulls Sora towards him, and turns around, marching off. "Bye Axel, Riku." Roxas throws over his shoulder, lugging Sora behind him. Call him overprotective, but he cared for Sora as if he were his younger brother.

After pulling Sora for a few blocks, Roxas finally let him go. Sora stopped walking and rubbed his wrist which was now a bright red color. Sora seemed slightly relieved yet pained at the same time.

"What is with Riku?" Roxas asks, cutting to the chase. Sora tenses once again, and that is all that Roxas needs to know. "So he's the problem, huh? Why?" Sora's hands clench tightly into fists. That doesn't stop his leg from shaking. Now Roxas is involved, and Sora can't do a damned thing about it.

"Yes." Sora says, choosing to only answer the first question. He can't tell Roxas why. This is exactly as he feared. Sora looks at the dull gray sidewalk under his red shoes. His shoes are so bright compared to the sidewalk, it's nearly unnatural. Sora can feel the tension in his shoulders, and focuses on releasing it. He just needs to think happy thoughts.

"Okay. Whatever. Don't tell me. Let's just get you home. Cloud is coming over, right? So you can do your homework while I help Leon cook. I promise you though, I'm not doing this every time." Roxas sighs in defeat and begins to walk towards Sora's house, which is only a few blocks further. Sora nods, and his feet begin to move of their own accord. He knows that Roxas doesn't see his nod, but he appreciates his cousin's help. Roxas half-lives at Sora's house anyway. Not that his house is a bad house or anything. Sora's aunt and uncle are very kind and happy people, but they're getting a divorce, and Roxas can't stand the fighting. He feels confined in his house, so most of the time Roxas will hang out or sleep over at Sora's house. Roxas's parents don't really mind, as long as they know where Roxas is.

Before Sora knew it, his thoughts were interrupted by Cloud's loud greeting calling from in the house. Sora smiled to Cloud's loud yelling. He was practically a brother already to Sora, even though Leon is only dating him. Cloud and Leon both act like parents to Sora, whose parents were always out and about. Cloud and Leon were both strict and solemn parental figures to Sora.

Sora numbly wanders up the stairs and to his room. He drops his backpack onto his bed, and lies down on it. Sora props his head up on his arms behind his head, and he stares at his ceiling. He is scared, not only for himself, but his family too. What if something happened to them? It would be Sora's fault, wouldn't it?

Sora pulls out his homework from his backpack and vaguely begins to work on it. Sora briefly focuses on his geometry homework, vaguely remembering what Riku had told him about the vertical angles. Sora tenses again at the thought of Riku, and quickly finishes his homework, thrusting it into his backpack. He feels the anxiety knot in his stomach, and Sora curls into a ball on his bed.

Sora bites his bottom lip to keep from whimpering. He curls his fingers, twisting them in his cinnamon locks, as he focuses on calming his racing heart. Sora feels the tears leaking down his face, though his eyes are clenched tightly. He nearly laughs at the thought of it. How could it be, when his eyes are closed so tightly, that tears still leak through?

Sora untwined his fingers from his hair, and pressed them into the soft flesh covering his temples. It hardly helps with the stress, and only intensifies his headache more. Sora whimpers at the aching feeling resonating within his skull, and as he gives up, he lets his body release and go limp on his bed.

Sora scans his ceiling, taking note of every chip, every mark, and every inconsistency of it. Sora lets out a little whimper as his headache subsides. He doesn't have much homework left to do, only reading some random section of his Spanish textbook.

Roxas peeks his head into Sora's room, to see that Sora is just lying there. Roxas feels a twinge of guilt pick at him from the inside. He should be able to help Sora somehow. This was just entirely unfair. How could any one person be able to cause his poor cousin this much grief? Roxas sighs and Sora turns to look at him. His eyes are red and puffy and Roxas only feels worse. He wants to help Sora, but he knows there is no way to.

"Dinner, Sora." Roxas says an uncommon soft quality in his voice. Roxas offers Sora a small smile meant to encourage him. Sora groans and gets up off his bed. His face is downtrodden; his usual atmosphere is gone. Where he used to be all smiles and happiness he is now frowns and depression. Roxas feels disheartened as he heads down the stairs, knowing that Sora will soon follow.

Sora stops at the top of the stairs, getting himself together. He wipes the remaining tears from his face. He doesn't bother putting on a fake smile though. It's not worth it to put on a lie that everyone can see through.

Sora trudges down the stairs, a sick feeling finally settling in his stomach. Sora stands at the bottom of the stairs for a moment. He listens to the conversation floating down the hall from the kitchen.

"So, you two, I need to tell you that last night, there was a robbery at the bank. My partner had fallen asleep on the job, so I was left patrolling. I had caught a glimpse of my attacker before I had been subdued. They had then taken nearly half of what was in the first vault. We have reasons to believe that Organization 13 is behind the robbery. The only problem that we have is that we have no idea how or why they attack. Essentially, I need you to all be careful. I have no idea if they'll come after us now or not. The detectives are still looking into it, and I can't disclose any other details, but please, don't tell Sora. Given his current state, it could only make things worse. We have to tread lightly around Sora, okay?" Cloud's voice rang from the kitchen. Even if he was talking quietly, Sora had heard it all. Sora frowned. As if he could get any worse. It took him moments to piece together that it is highly likely that Riku was the criminal. After all, didn't he break into Sora's room the night before?

Sora walked into the kitchen, his feet shuffling. The three men in the room looked up at him, their faces betraying nothing. If Sora didn't know what they just discussed, then he would most likely figure that nothing was wrong. Sora takes his seat at the table. Nobody wants to bother Sora, so throughout dinner they remain quiet. Sora doesn't really care. He is so lost in his thoughts and concerns that it doesn't even matter.

Leon though, does mind. He can't stand another second of this silence. He can't have Sora fall apart again. The last time Sora had the nightmares was horrible. Sora had attempted suicide twice after he was medicated. Leon wouldn't be able to stand it again. Roxas quietly chewed his food. He had called Leon's aunt and uncle earlier to tell them he was spending the night. Roxas is just as concerned as both Leon and Cloud, but unlike Leon, the other two will remain quiet.

Leon pushes his food around the table for a few moments before he simply can't take the silence anymore. "Sora. What is going on?" Leon asks. Sora's head drifts up, and Leon is taken aback by the dullness of Sora's eyes. They look just like they used to. Cloud and Roxas notice too, and a collective gasp is heard around the table.

Sora is terrified that Riku is going to come after his family now. He has no doubt in his mind that Riku is the robber. Riku said that he wouldn't kill Sora, but what if he changed his mind? As soon as he finds out that Cloud is close with Sora, he'll surely piece it together. He could be caught, so he would come after Sora and his family. Everyone Sora loved would die.

"Nothing." Sora replies, trying to keep his voice calm. Sora fakes a smile to the others which only increases the tension.

"Liar!" Roxas hisses from across the table. "Why don't you trust us?" Roxas screeches desperately from his side of the table. "Sora, we're here for you." Roxas's voice softens. Guilt tears through Sora. He just can't tell them. They'll just get hurt if he told them. Sora couldn't allow that. The pain inside Sora is getting excruciatingly painful. Sora puts a hand over his heart, trying to quell the pain inside his heart.

Sora shakes his head as he stands and pushes the chair out from underneath him. Sora exits the kitchen and goes to his room. He locks the door behind him. The others just don't understand the position that Sora is in. He needs to tell them to relieve the pain and guilt, but he can't or they'll die. Sora would cry but he doesn't have any tears left in him. He throws himself on his bed. Sora sits up, pressing his back against the headboard, and throws the Spanish textbook across the room.

Sora is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He was placing safety over trust. Either way, someone was going to be hurt. Sora curled his knees into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around his legs. This was his entire fault. If only he had called the police while he could. This could have been prevented.

Sora began to shake again. His vision began to blur, and he felt more tears leaking from his eyes. And here he thought he was all dried up. Sora felt sobs rack his body, but it was as if he was a third party watching it happen. Sora couldn't feel anything, but at the same time, he could feel it.

It took nearly a half an hour before Sora stopped crying. He simply fell onto his side and gave up. Sora had, in a sense, come to terms with his future. Somehow, everyone was going to have to die. All because Sora didn't call the police, or somehow subdue Riku. It was all Sora's fault, and Sora deserved whatever came next.

Sora got up, and entered his shower. He let the water wash away the dirt and grime of the day and allowed himself to hope that the next day would be better. Sora's hair fell limp under the water, and he ran his fingers through it. Sora applied shampoo and conditioner to his hair, and soon stepped out of the shower, feeling slightly better.

Sora wraps a towel around his waist, and opens the door to his room, enjoying the cool air that blows in as the hot, humid air flows into Sora's room. Sora closes his eyes, enjoying the sensation as the hot air evaporates off his skin. Sora's eyes open to a silver-haired figure sitting in his mahogany desk chair. Sora's heart beat stops for a moment as he realizes that Riku is back in his house. His eyes quickly flash to Riku's hands, to make sure that there was no blood on them. Sora sighs in relief as he realizes that Riku is clean, so his family must be safe.

The blood rushes to Sora's face as he realizes that he is standing in only a towel in front of Riku. Riku's eyes trail up and down Sora's figure and Sora squirms uncomfortably. Sora doesn't even have it in him to shake. He simply feels like he is about to faint. As Riku's eyes meet Sora's, they widen in shock. Sora smirks to himself, knowing full well that the dead expression he is taking in is the reason Riku looks so shocked.

Sora disregards Riku as he walks over to his dresser and slides a pair of boxers on under his towel. He then slides a shirt on top of his torso, and a pair of pajama pants on too. Sora takes his towel and dries his hair. Riku's eyes follow Sora as Sora meanders around his room. Riku can practically taste the tension in the air, not to mention he can see how tense Sora is. And the look in Sora's eyes is just horrifying. It's nowhere near the same, bright, shining look in his eyes as the night before. They nearly look dead. Riku was scared for Sora. Horrified is a closer description to how Riku felt. If he had caused the happy boy to be this way, well, Riku didn't know what he would do.

"Sora, what's wrong?" Riku asks as Sora sits on his bed. Riku gets up from the chair, and Sora's eyes revive slightly. Riku sits next to Sora on his bed, and Sora stiffens again. Riku wants nothing more than for the small boy to trust him, and Sora wants nothing more than for Riku to leave him alone.

"It's nothing. N-nothing is wrong, R-riku." Sora stammers, his face flushing red. Sora is scared that Riku is going to do something. What if Riku had changed his mind? What if he was really going to kill Sora and his family? Sora wouldn't be able to stop him. Sora is simply too weak. Sora pulls his knees up to his chest again.

Riku watches as panic begins to set in on Sora's face again. He was probably thinking that Riku changed his mind or something. Riku had no idea what he could do to encourage the boy that he would be okay. The only thing Riku could think of is to simply talk.

"You know, when I was little, I could never really make friends." Sora looks up at Riku, both curious and skeptic. Riku smiles at the smaller boy. At least he got his attention. "This one time, I was at the playground on the swings, and a little girl had sat next to me. She was really nice at the beginning, but after a few minutes she just got really angry with me. I had told her that her dress was too girly and I asked why she wore it. She then threw the sand from under the swings at me and stomped off." Riku let out a small chuckle. Sora had no idea why Riku was telling him this. It made him feel slightly more comfortable though.

"Why are you telling me this?" Sora asks, his voice wavering. Riku sent him a small smile.

"Why not?" Riku answers Sora's question with another question. Sora flushes a bright pink color, and Riku lets out another small chuckle. "Before my parents passed away, they used to take me lots of places. This one time, I was at an amusement park with my mother. My father had been working really hard then, and was hardly ever home. So, after the first few rides, I had gotten really thirsty. I had about two water bottles, and my mom and I took a break to eat lunch. Well, a few minutes later, I really had to go to the bathroom. I told my mom and I ran off. The bathrooms weren't very far anyway, and she knew I was responsible. Well, I had to go so badly that I ran into the wrong bathroom. Well, to cut the story short, when I left, I asked my mom why there were no urinals in the bathroom. I also asked why all of the guys in that bathroom had boobs. I had also apparently asked it really loudly, and my mom was embarrassed out of her mind. She took me home after that, and we never went back." Sora let out a small laugh before stifling it. Riku gives Sora a curious look.

"One time, I was with Leon when I was younger and asked him, 'why don't girls have pee-pees?' Leon half died laughing, and I never understood why. Well, at least not until I was much older." Riku gave Sora a small smile, and Sora smiled back. At least they had a small sense of trust building between them.

"I was on vacation once with my family, and I once again, had to use the bathroom. Well, I didn't know where it was so I went to the front desk. There was a relatively older woman behind the desk, and I asked her where the bathroom was. She looked at me for a few moments and told me, and I kid you not, 'the ladies room is that way.' I didn't have it in me to correct her, so I just went off that way. The men's bathroom wasn't that far away anyway. I couldn't stop laughing after that though. That woman was at the desk of the hotel every day though, and I just couldn't look her in the eye." Sora laughed and unconsciously began to lean against Riku. Riku let out a soft smile. Riku watched the smaller boy as he giggled helplessly next to Riku. The spark in Sora's eyes was brighter than usual, and Riku couldn't help but widen his smile at that. After Sora calmed down, he looked Riku in the eyes. Riku was curious – he wouldn't hide it – as to why Sora was just looking at him.

"Riku, can I ask you something?" Sora asked quietly, his gaze breaking off of Riku's. His entire posture seemed to sag, as if depressed. Sora was still leaning on Riku, which Riku took as a small victory. He wasn't going to hide the fact that he liked Sora from himself. It did hurt Riku though, to see Sora warm up to Axel so quickly. How could he trust Axel, the ruthless assassin, over Riku? Riku could count how many people he killed on one hand. He didn't want to kill anyone, and he only did it when he had no other option.

"Sure, Sora." Riku says his voice quiet. Riku runs his hands over Sora's plush comforter. Riku glances at Sora and sees multiple emotions cross the younger boy's face. The only one that stayed there the entire time was panic. Wonderful. Sora's miniscule amount of trust for Riku was just about to be abolished. Just like that.

"Were you the one that robbed the Twilight Town bank?" Sora's fingers grasped onto one another. He could feel his body begin to tremble. Why did he have to ask that? Now Riku would surely kill him!

"What does it matter, Sora? I already told you, I have absolutely no intention of hurting you. The only time I hurt anyone is when I absolutely have to." Riku grabs Sora's hand. Riku forces Sora to lift his gaze and meet his own as he pushes his chin up. "You have to trust me, Sora. Please." Riku attempts to portray his sincerity through only his eyes. Sora gazes into Riku's eyes, still skeptic of Riku's motivations. Sora can see the tearful sincerity in Riku's eyes. A chord is struck in Sora, and he feels as if he wants – no – _needs_ to believe Riku.

"Riku, you won't hurt them will you? My family, I mean?" Sora asks, never breaking eye contact. Riku lets out a melodious laugh.

"Of course not. It would hurt you if I hurt them, wouldn't it? So why would I do that? Is that really why you're so afraid of me?" Riku asks, frowning. He feels slightly hurt that Sora would believe that Riku would just kill anyone. Well, he is the Organization's stealthiest member. He doesn't like to murder though. It's too messy, and it bothers him for weeks after.

"I- I guess." Sora responds, his face flushing red. Riku's face grows solemn. Sora sees the hurt in Riku's eyes, and he wishes he could take it back. Riku drops Sora's hands and flops on Sora's bed. Riku's head rests on Sora's pillows, and Sora just watches the silverette. Riku lets his mind wander for a few moments. So Sora will never be able to trust him. As long as Riku poses a risk to Sora's family, Sora will not be able to trust him.

"Well, if that is how you see it." Riku says, barely covering the hurt in his voice. Sora picks up on this, and guilt tears through him. It seems that he is always hurting someone. The fact that Riku was a criminal didn't make it any easier for Sora. Sora couldn't take hurting people. Though, Sora is surprised that Riku is still there. Usually when people are upset they'll storm out, not hang around the one who upset them.

"I'm sorry, Riku. I –" Sora begins to elaborate, until he realizes he has no idea what he is going to say.

"Sora, it's fine. I understand. I'm a threat to your family. If you want me to leave, just say so. It is my fault, after all." Riku says, his aquamarine eyes meeting Sora's cerulean ones. Sora can see the masked pain in Riku. Sora pouts slightly. Does he really want Riku to leave?

To be honest, Sora has kind of been enjoying the attention that Riku pays him, but he is frightened at the same time. Riku was a threat to Sora and his order. Riku was a variable. Sora liked that variable. Sora is sick of his simple, methodical life. Riku changes things up.

"Riku. Don't leave. I'll – I'll try to explain." Riku looks slightly taken aback at Sora's offer. Riku nods, not really knowing if he can trust himself to speak. He doesn't want to scare Sora off in any case. Sora lies down next to Riku and stares at the ceiling. He figures that if he doesn't have to look at Riku, this'll be much easier. Riku seems to understand, but he lies on his side and looks at Sora. Sora is fine with it, but he is still stressed. "Well, where to start? I guess, ever since I was little, I had this fear of criminals. More importantly, a fear that someone would break into my house and try to kill my family and I. I usually keep my window locked, but the night you bro- entered – my house was the first night I had it unlocked. You can imagine the panic that I went through, huh? Well, it's only been a few months since I got over these terrible nightmares that I had about criminals. At one point, they got so bad that I attempted suicide. Twice." Sora began to choke up as a tear ran down his face. Riku's expression grew soft. He nearly reaches out to wipe the tear away before he stops himself. He can't scare Sora now. "I used to be really scared. I would shake uncontrollably, and I just couldn't stand to live. I had to go on medication for a little while, and the dreams intensified. I would have been able to handle it if they were normal. After the robber enters my room in my dreams, I usually wake up, but with the medication, I was locked in the dream. It – it was horrifying. I couldn't take it. That's when I attempted suicide the first time. I had taken bleach and was going to swallow it. Leon had walked in on me as I was about to drink it. If he hadn't gotten home right then, I don't know what would have happened. Maybe I would have chickened out. Maybe I wouldn't have. I hated myself then. A few days later, I took a knife from the kitchen. No one noticed I took it, and I told everyone I was going up to shower. They thought I had gone back to normal. They thought I was okay. Then I went into my bathroom and l-locked the door behind me. I t-turned on the shower and took the knife and began to-" Sora began to sob. He couldn't get past this part. This was the hardest part. He had nearly died.

Riku saw the stricken look on Sora's face and pulled the smaller boy into a hug. He understood now. Riku had been the source of all of Sora's fears. Riku had truly become the boy's nightmare come true. Riku couldn't help but feel guilt rip through him. It was his fault that Sora had relapsed into whatever this was.

"Shh, Sora. It's okay." Riku murmured into Sora's ear as he stroked the boy's cinnamon locks. "It's okay. I'd never hurt you." Sora curled into the older boy, and grasped his shirt. Riku wrapped one arm around Sora's body, and the other continued playing with his hair.

"R-Riku." Sora whimpered into the taller boy's chest. Riku held the boy tighter. He knew that he couldn't leave the boy's side. He owed the boy that much.

"Sora, it's okay. I'll stay here until you fall asleep. Don't worry. No one will ever be able to hurt you again." Riku says. He plans to keep his promise. He will protect this boy no matter what the cost is. Even if it is Riku's life, he will protect Sora. Sora curls into Riku even more, and Riku tightens his grip. In a few moments, both teenagers are fast asleep.

For once in his life, Sora had a good night's sleep.


End file.
